Funny bot, it knows how to use his words against him, if Claire was a lawyer, it could make the worst criminal in the world be free from prison.

Anyway, time was short and he focused on the device, he now knows the theory behind it, since exhausting his ability would improve all aspects of it, then let it be. He would use that device until he could not stand still.

Half an hour later, he finally reached his previous record.

"Congratulations, master. Full 10 seconds without fainting, you lasted a lot."

"That... sounds like a dirty joke"

"Oh, then you noticed..."

"..."

It was indeed a new record, does that mean that he already improved? Yes, but he still had a long way in front of him.

"But master, remember to take two hours of relaxation after an hour of training, is different in the case of ability training, but you still need to rest from time to time, this training method is effective but given time you will get mentally tired eventually, and would faint in half of your usual time."

"I know, I know my limits. You worry too much"

"By the way, master, until when will last your current client protection?"

"Client? You mean Rose? I am in the newbie period, so I guess almost a month if she doesn't move her fingers to make me spend more time with her... somehow, I have a bad feeling, that something like that would happen"

"... You have to follow her on a travel to New Gaia's islands, I might have some information about what's to be discussed in there, master"

"Nah, don't want to know, I don't want to be related to politics, so it's fine if I don't know"

Mike's contract lasted almost a month while protecting a client. He would usually be supervised by a veteran member, but since Rose used her hand to mess up his situation Mike could not get the right and usual procedures.

He still wanted to try and learn, but first needed to finish Rose's protection period. But still, who knows what a Slades' family member would have in mind.

Time went by, and in the (almost) evening training, he got beaten up by Claire again, this time the android used real moves, and would not hit him with enough strength to kill, but with still enough to make him bleed even if using boxing gloves.

As the training was in the climax, Claire even used its legs to attack and defend, which gave Mike a hard time to deal with, after all, he had to get his eyes covered all day long, the only good news was the dinner time after that.

For his two free days, he spent the morning training with Claire (or better said, getting beaten up and trained at the same time), reading things on the internet and searching info in the secret office computer; that last one usually was mainly made interacting with Claire.

In the afternoon, he used the time to use the strange device to exhaust himself from his ability, and meditate or train in calm methods, and at evening training with Claire again.

Now it was a working day again. The previous day, he used the exhausting ability device to fall asleep on purpose. The android looked at him without expression on its face, but still worried if its master was a maniac training or if just wanted to improve his ability.

The free days were mostly full of good times for him, he felt his control of the Bloody Hand felt like peak itself, he felt there was something more to it, but by yesterday's results recorded by Claire, he still needed more time.

The phase 1 was not easy to reach in just a few days, just that Mike was really a genius while controlling his ability given the right instructions.

Even the android was impressed, and it has the records of most of the Blood family's ancestors. Even with the unlucky Mike starting his training in the mid-20s or with the luck of having the op android, it was still a genius at control and precision, especially that last one.

As he reached the building, he saw Sam and went to say hi. He was not beside Rose.

"Hey Sam, how are you, man?"

They chatted a bit, looks like Sam had already finished the contract with Rose and was to leave today to see another client tomorrow in some other place.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Sam told him to go first to the armory, he would need the tools Sam usually had, it was mandatory that the more experienced bodyguard would have those tools like the special handcuff or so while working.

That was the kind of info Mike wanted to know, but Rose's hand messed up his learning time in the company.

As he reached the place, the same shady man from before was there behind the bulletproof crystal, on his desk. And before he could say or ask something the man spoke.

"Blood, I was about to call you here" Said the man without looking at him for more than half a second.

"Like hell, you would wait for an entire day without telling me a shit, lazy bastard"

"Owen reached his end of the contract with Rose, and as you may know, you are now the only special bodyguard from the company guarding her, so you need these tools" Sam's last name was Owen.

The man just passed some things opening the door, and went right to his chair in front of the desk again. Not paying any attention to Mike, he would only guess how to equip those things quickly and go to the upper floors.

Most of it was tangled with the other things, so it took him some minutes. It was not only the handcuffs and the belt; it was a lot of things. But in the middle of it, the man spoke again.

"Oh, I almost forgot, take this one, Sam told me you will be following Rose out of the country in a few days, you should remember to tell me it yourself, not waiting for others to do so"

The man opened the armored door again and handed him a bulletproof vest.

"It's not my fault nobody taught me... and you can use the special weapons duct in front of your desk, you know?... I will never understand some people..."

Now he needed to get the tools off his back, wear the vest, and put on the tools again.

"Oh, you didn't forget... motherfucker, did I do something bad to you? Or are you one of those followers of 'Saintess Rose' or shit like that? you jealous lazy bastard"

Now the shady man had a different title this time on his mind, one more word to his title actually. In the future, who knows how many more words he would add to refer to this shady man.

"Wait... shady and jealous lazy bastard, sounds better... Ok I feel better now"

After adjusting the vest and getting the tools, he went upstairs again, he needed to rush and had no time to wait for the elevator, it was just 2 floors anyway.

As he reached the place, he saw one of Claire's personal bodyguards, the man.

"What is he doing in front of another door this time?" He thought while going to greet him, but the man's cold eyes made him understand that the man was maybe a time maniac, 5 minutes was too late?

"You are late, but it doesn't matter, watch out here, I will go beside Rose" with those words he went inside the room, the door was transparent and he could see an office inside, a normal office.

In there he saw Rose discussing things with other people, she noticed him while the bodyguard got inside but was busy anyway. So, Mike instead of taking a look just got in there and prepared the radio on his shoulder he just got a few minutes about.

But then he remembers, "What was the radio frequency again?" After a few seconds of freeze, he placed the earphone of it on his ear. He would at least act like he already configured it before asking the others later.

"Let's hope nobody asks me anything later on the radio, the communicator will be looked like working anyway"

As he waited guarding the door there, some people got in the floor looking at his direction.

"Ah man, the best office is being used?..." Said one of the persons. He took a glance at the people inside and changed directions quickly "Ah well, is just an office, let's use the one in front then"

The people followed him to the office in front of him and put one of the persons following them guarding outside.

"Ford? It wasn't a long time but looks like it was" Said Mike.

It was Ford the one who got into the company at the same time as him.

"Hey Blood, how are you, man?" The two chatted for a bit in front of the door each one was guarding.

Mike had a bulb in his mind getting turned on.

"Oh man, why did I never think of it? I can ask the angel's envoy in front of me" Said Mike in his mind, if he wanted to learn from someone for the first time in the company, he could ask to one that is being taught, since the others had no will of teach him after all.

Taking the chance, Mike asked a lot of questions, he never lied to Ford about how nobody teaches him anything about the company and doesn't know more than the basics, so Ford answered some of his questions.

About radio communications protocols and so on, what does those offices are means for, and so on he learned a lot about it. Most of it could help him in his work later, or maybe not, but it was useful anyway.

Sometimes, you can learn more from people in your same position than the ones in higher positions.

"Oh, you heard about it? This morning Redzen started a war with Asgars, they still had not announced it but the soldiers from both countries were already in combat, lucky none of those countries are close to this one"

Strangely Mike felt bad about it, is not like he would not feel bad about the innocents in a war, but he still felt something was strange, wasn't a spatial rift or something like that being born in Asgars? And Redzen started a war in their territory? Some people are crazy, but some are just psychos.

The spatial rift was made public a few years after the guild announced the disbanding, it was a strange phenomenon and very hard to explain with the current science level. But it was without doubt, dangerous. Creatures can mutate, or worse, monsters can be born from there.